Fans of Art Nouveau

This beautiful folding fan is one of a pair of similar fans in the Art Nouveau style in the collection of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. The silk net leaves of both fans are decorated with cotton needle and bobbin lace embellished with shiny steel spangles. The sticks are identical in both fans and are made of tortoiseshell embedded with steel spangles. The guard sticks have a wavy, serpentine form and there is a glass stone at both rivets. Both fans depict elegant floral motifs, irises in one and thistles in the other that appear to be growing out of the foundation of the dark brown sticks.

An article from the March 1901 edition of Les Modes provides further confirmation of the date of both fans. The article, entitled, “The Ornament of Women: Fans,” shows the fan with a thistle motif. The article playfully asks whether fans are “weapons or toys” for women. It suggests that the use of fans has gone beyond the practical purpose of creating a cooling breeze; fans have become an indispensable aspect of a fashionable woman’s attire, a prop for demurring in public, and skillful gesturing with a fan can communicate a range of unspoken feelings.

Les Modes, March, 1901, Smithsonian Institution Libraries

The Les Modes article identifies the thistle-motif fan as coming from the famous Parisian fan house, Develleroy, still in existence today. In fact, both Cooper-Hewitt fans have the name of the Parisian fan house, “Duvelleroy” inscribed on the back of one slip, which is the slender end of the stick where it extends beyond the leaf.